The Libyan Civil War*: Critical Views Jihad in the service of McWorld.
* The Libyan Regime-Change Campaign and Naqba of 2011 was never a "civil war" (early and poor name choice) and is no longer the sole subject of this site (see here)

Warning

Warning: This site contains images and graphic descriptions of extreme violence and/or its effects. It's not as bad as it could be, but is meant to be shocking. Readers should be 18+ or a mature 17 or so. There is also some foul language occasionally, and potential for general upsetting of comforting conventional wisdom. Please view with discretion.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Situation in Sirte: Neither Good Nor Great

September 23, 2011last edits Dec. 12

New intro, Oct.3:
One month ago, as Tripoli was being "secured," the rabble forces turned their eyes towards col. Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, to which the ruler had "strategically withdrawn." Both sides issued some tough talk, Gaddafi vowing a long insurgency based from Sirte, the rebels promising to take the city in a few days. As the Associated Press reported on September 1:

"We want to save our fighters and not lose a single one in battles with Gadhafi's forces," said Mohammed al-Rajali, a spokesman for the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi. "In the end, we will get Sirte, even if we have to cut water and electricity" and let NATO pound it with airstrikes.

Surely that was hyperbole - a medieval siege of that type would be illegal, something Gaddafi gets accused of, but which the forces of enlightenment and liberation - and their Euro-American air support -would never dream of actually doing. The possibility of surrender, or an internal coup, or something helpful was talked up, but serious battle was readied for just in case.

Neither Good nor Great
A few weeks later as Western journalists laid around embedded with rabble (Government, NTC or "former rebel") forces outside besieged Sirte, they have picked up bits and pieces from some of the civilians currently fleeing from within. A few managed to capture some surprisingly candid moments:

"The situation isn't good. There's random shelling, rockets falling on people every day, falling on civilians," resident Jamal Makhzoum said from the driver's seat of a sedan heading west from the city.

When a man near the car interrupted, Makhzoum held up his hand and suggested it was not clear to him who was responsible for the shelling that has destroyed dozens of homes and prevented deliveries of much-needed food and medicine.

"Just a minute. These people say it isn't them," he said, gesturing toward Sirte. "And the revolutionaries here say it isn't them. And every day we bury two or three people." [Reuters]

It was never left this ambiguous in Misrata - only Libya's rebels could be so audacious as to suggest the shelling from the outskirts was by the besieged party inside. (And, ironically, there's some evidence they themselves have done this somewhere, while dressed as drunk Gaddafi soldiers and filming themselves.) They insist someone stating the obvious to the media correct himself. "Shoot randomly?! Target civilians?!! Us?!!!" I can see a rebel fighter shouting, firing his AK back and to the right for effect, hitting dirt and another car.

The ever-level UK Telegraph reported that rockets were being fired, by someone:

Hundreds of civilians continued to pour out of the city on Thursday in cars and pickups loaded with mattresses and food as the former rebel fighters fired machine guns and incoming rockets crashed on the city's outskirts.

National Transitional Council (NTC) forces have surrounded the city for a week, but say their progress has been stymied largely because there are many civilians still inside the city."

Those civilians are slowing them down? On the upside, at least that should allow their ammunition to last. The downside is that these civilians are shielding the regime forces from attack. Again, human shields, prevented from leaving, we hear, by crude threats. But they were starting to come out now, by what they're saying, because too many of them were dying from random rockets from someone, and the de-facto food and water and medicine embargoes were probably starting to hurt.

The Telegraph heard from a different refugee, citing a whole different class of problems compounding and/or replacing those other things.

"The situation isn't great," said one resident who did not give his name as he left the city, where he said Gaddafi's forces were moving "like gangs" through the streets. "There have been executions," he said, naming two men who he said had been executed on Thursday. He also said he had witnessed executions in front of the house of a local family, whose name he gave as Safruny.

For a while now there's been a reported pattern of brutal and even bizarre Gaddafi atrocities right before a rebel conquest, with the results found just after. In reality the massacres often seem to happened just after as well, despite the rebel stories (consider the Abu Salim trauma hospital). This time, we're getting glimpses ahead of time that the people who will turn up sliced in specific ways will be proven regime crimes. Handy.

An NTC commander on the outskirts of Sirte, separately showed Reuters a handwritten list of families whose members were said to have been executed in Sirte. The list, which he said he compiled with information from people inside the city, included the Safruny family.

The commander gave his first name as Saleh but declined to give his family name. He said other attacks on suspected NTC sympathisers had been carried out. "One man, they cut him like this," Saleh said, dragging his finger from the ends of his mouth across his cheeks. "Another, they cut his lips."

Take note and sharpen your knives. Also, don't expect many public records to help verify identities to have survived rebel - er NTC - destruction over the past six months.

But the "NTC forces" have for the moment halted their offensive, perhaps allowing a few less deaths for the moment and a little aid perhaps, to this battered holdout city. One reason given was a shortage of ammunition, which they haven't been able to use much of, considering all the civilians still there. But it was also acknowledged the rebels took heavy casualties from the stiff resistance still there despite everything. History has taught us that they get angry at resistance, and as we hear from Tawergha, people are found dead and cities emptied when they're angry. I think whether there are or aren't sliced up dead people there now, who can be claimed as rebel family, there will be before this is done.

NATO's Humanitarian Bombing, Seven Months In
This is all about the attacks from the ground, but for a while now Sirte has been suffering worse from the Rebels' unreachable sky Gods, all without hardly a sound in the Western media. They could be doing just about anything there, like using cluster bombs (video often cited) or mustard gas (it's been allegedly confirmed in Bani Walid). And since Gaddafi can still hire mercenaries, France says, NATO bombing continues and must. A few days ago, Human Rights Investigations posted a great piece on what's happening there:NATO bombing of Sirte: the new Guernica

Moussa Ibrahim, in a call from a satellite phone to Reuters office in Tunis on Saturday 17th September, said:
“NATO attacked the city of Sirte last night with more than 30 rockets directed at the city’s main hotel and the Tamin building, which consists of more than 90 residential flats.
“The result is more than 354 dead and 89 still missing [usually dead] and almost 700 injured in one night.” “In the last 17 days more than 2,000 residents of the city of Sirte were killed in NATO air strikes.”

As usual, NATO cannot, for all the trying in the world, confirm a scrap of it. These kids and old lady could have been hurt and killed by anything:

A good French site I just discovered has video of the latest portion of this, posted September 22. Auto-translated:

The hospital in Sirte in Libya is full of dead women and children killed by the bombing of French and English pilots. A massacre in absolute silence of the UN and NGOs French and English. Circulate these videos for the families of the pilots voeint their children swinging in Libya killing of babies and children.

The same site also has the hospital itself being bombed. If I may pull a Western journalist here, I'll just pass on these reports as unconfirmed but alarming. There is a guy who might be a doctor, with an invisible arm injury, and a woman who might be a nurse, with mysterious but mechanical injuries, perhaps grave, and to the whole upper body - very sad to see.

THE civilians pouring out of the besieged city of Sirte accused NATO of genocide yesterday as rebel forces called in reinforcements and prepared for a fresh assault on Muammar Gaddafi's home town.

Long lines of civilian vehicles were leaving after a night of NATO air attacks on the town. Rebel forces fighting for the National Transitional Council added artillery and mortar fire.

The people leaving the town, many looking scared, said conditions inside Sirte were disastrous. They made claims which, if verified, are a challenge for NATO - which operates under a UN mandate to protect civilians - saying the NATO bombing raids hit homes, schools and hospitals.

"It was worse than awful," said Riab Safran, 28, as his car was searched by rebel fighters outside Sirte. His family had slept on the beach because the houses were being bombed, he said. "They hit all kinds of buildings - schools, hospitals," he said. He could not distinguish between the NATO bombs and the rebels shells, he said, but believed it was a NATO bomb that destroyed his home on Saturday.

Thousands of refugees have tried to flee the city, forced to pass through checkpoints set up by the NATO-backed forces, where many have been taken prisoner,accused of being Gaddafi supporters. [...] those remaining in the city feared violence at the hands of the “rebels” after reports of many of those fleeing being detained and of women being abducted from cars leaving the city.
[...]
The Wall Street Journal reported from one of these checkpoints, describing lines of cars and trucks, packed with civilians and piled with mattresses and other belongings:

“As refugees gathered, the Misrata fighters checked their names against lists of suspected Gaddafi loyalists. Some men were arrested while others were told to wait on the side of the road with their families.

“‘We’re going to punish even those that supported Moammar with words,’ said a bearded fighter to a man who protested his detention. ‘We are the knights that liberated Libya.’ ”

Responding to rebel criticism that NATO isn't bombing enough, Colonel Roland Lavoie, the air campaign's military spokesman, riterated that they've been flying 100 sorties a day just over Sirte and the few other holdout cities. He said to AFP “the number of strikes depends on the danger against the civilian population, in conformity of our mandate." It seems instead he's got it backwards - the danger to civilians depends on the number of NATO strikes. He also added, in a sickening display of doublespeak as they've brought the rebels to the verge of national control "we do not aim to bring support to NTC forces on the ground, this is why there is no operational coordination with NTC forces.” No, it's just a coincidence that they're both committing war crimes against the same city to make life unbearable or impossible and flush the people out swiftly.

The conditions within the city unleashed by this humanitarian concern make it clear why some are willing to risk the demanding gauntlet to leave. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF—Doctors Without Borders) was somehow allowed brief contact with hospital staff within the black hole. They told of hospitals overflowing with the sick, injured, and dying - grave injuries from NATO bombs and/or rebel shells and rockets. Medicines - from antibiotics to painkillers - are running low, and compressed oxygen is simply unavailable (oxygen plants are a frequent NATO target in Libya). Shockingly, water-borne illnesses are proliferating as their clean water has run out (see below). There's constant danger, almost no food, little sleep, and little remaining hope in the city.

Some would say it's like Misrata, but this time, it's hit much harder and much quicker. This time, no powerful outsiders are ignoring a weak Libyan government blockade to evacuate wounded, bring in weapons, reinforcements, or even the basics for survival. This time it's the West's embargo and the combined firepower raining in on the city (from whoever) that has nothing coming in. Many would like to help, and are ready to, but no one's even able to help the residents inside at all, thanks to the inhuman NATO-rebel axis. Van Auken's piece continues:

“There is no food, there is no medicine, and every night, for five or six hours, NATO bombs all sorts of buildings,” Sami Abderraman, 64, told the Spanish daily El Pais as he sought to leave Sirte. “Hundreds of women and children have died like animals.” Abderraman estimated that as many as 3,000 people have been killed in the siege.

Another refugee, who asked not to be named, told El Pais that “The people who remain are going to fight to the death.”
[...]
Ali Omar, who fled the city with 27 members of his extended family, recounted the carnage being carried out by the NATO-backed rebels advancing on Sirte from Benghazi in the east.

“The easterners are exterminating everything in front of them,” said the 42-year-old Omar. He and his family, he said, had been pinned down inside their home by heavy gunfire for seven hours on Sunday.

And we still await further news on the Gaddafi-ordered massacres to be found inside, once these fighters take control of every house. I predict Gaddafi victims will be found starved, stricken with waterborne disease and denied medicine, blown up by artillery, crushed by bombed houses, perhaps gang raped, tortured, sliced-up as specified above... The variety of the Colonel's cruelty, sure to be revealed soon, is only matched by the mountain of crimes it needs to be stretched taut over, in a lame effort at concealment that will work like a charm on most.

Oct. 1: A Little More on Food and WaterA Reuters report took note of the increasing role of enforced hunger in the NTC's plans to flush Sirte of its people, one way or another:

Several residents said they were leaving Sirte because they had not eaten for days.

"I am not scared. I am hungry," said Ghazi Abdul-Wahab, a Syrian who has lived in the town for 40 years.

Abdul-Wahab said he had been sleeping in the streets with his family after a NATO airstrike hit a building next to his house, making him fear his home also could be struck.

Some residents said they had paid up to $800 for the fuel to leave the city because it was in short supply. Others said pasta and flour were now changing hands for large sums.

Doctors at a field hospital near the eastern front line said an elderly woman died from malnutrition Friday morning and they had seen other cases.

I admit I'm a little hazy on the details, but if Gaddafi's people had ever laid a siege like this on Misrata, it would be strenuously called a war crime and attempt at genocide.

And water ... In a desert country, nothing's more precious in maintaining the line between life and death. The old government currently being starved into submission in Sirte had supplied water to all Libyan cities via its Great Man-Made River (GMMR) which, to my knowledge, they never turned off on any rebel city during the whole war.

So if a city is out of water like everyone says Sirte is, it's because someone turned off the spigot to them. The NTC is in general control of the country and the spigots, and the city they're besieging is starting to die of thirst. [update, Dec. 12: Rather the water mains were all burst, flooding the streets with the city's drinking water. Then rebels were slowed a bit by the knee-deep pools, and claimed that was why Gaddafi ordered the water turned loose - to slow the rebels down a little once they got in]

Reuters reports the UN had to bring water in towards the city, but couldn't get it inside:

The United Nations is sending trucks of drinking water for the increasing flow of civilians crammed into vehicles on the road from Sirte, heading either toward Benghazi to the east or Misrata to the west, he said.

But fighting around the city, Gaddafi's hometown, and continuing insecurity around the Bani Walid area, the other loyalist hold-out, are preventing the world body from deploying aid workers inside, he said.

"There are two places we'd really like access to, Sirte and Ben Walid, because of concern on the impact of conflict on the civilian population," the U.N. source in Tripoli, speaking by telephone on condition of anonymity, told Reuters in Geneva.

So water is finally available, but only to those who agree to surrender and leave, putting themselves in NTC hands, for whatever fate awaits. Then they can finally have access to drinkable water again, if they're not arrested first for daring to support the government in the past. The report also says:

U.N. officials do not have direct contact with pro-Gaddafi forces in Sirte, where both sides accuse the other of cutting off water and electricity, the U.N. source said.

Really? They have the fucking balls to say Gaddafi's people, African mercenaries I presume, finally turned the water off - to kill the people of Sirte as they make their last stand there? And the rebels can't figure out how to turn it back on, for all their desire to just help people who are trying to live there? More accutely than usual, I'm aware these "people" are spoiled rotten and unaccountable, lying, evil, twisted sacks of shit. And they're totally winning, with the stupid world kissing their asses all the way through a crash course of war crimes just reflexively now put on Gaddafi's endless fucking open tab.

Update Oct.3:
A brief cease-fire was declared to allow some civilians to escape, and hundreds took up the offer. One family family fleeing a bit too fast was shot dead (as usual, it was unclear to most which side fired on them). Then the cease-fire ended and bombing and shelling have resumed. It doesn't seem anything went into Sirte, and nothing but fire is scheduled until there's no life left in it.

Oct. 5/7: See the comments below for continued fascinating and sickening developments, submitted by readers and by myself, in the historically notorious and criminal grinding down of Sirte, Libya. Of special importance is the obvious rebel moves to keep the Red Cross, again, from helping or even seeing the city's hospitals, starved of all possible supplies and power, and reportedly bombed repeatedly. As CNN's correspondent said with muted disgust, the rebels felt only Gaddafi loyalists remained, so they felt free to squeeze and "make them beg."

Hey, the video a way up this post shows a kid who's been begging for a while or is dead now after a NATO bomb burned half his body, crushed and mangled his legs, and crushed his guts. I've seen the video and he's struggling with immense pain in the absence of proper medicines and painkillers. I doubt they've been able to evacuate him, for "safety concerns," and the situation only gets worse as nothing is allowed in. But I understand - not until every last person is begging and none capable of fighting anymore will the last bullets be fired to finish them off and then peace. So go the brave, and so slaughter the plague rats of NATO.

Update Dec 12: I didn't update this forever, but once the rebels controlled the city, they simply vacated it, blasting open every building, and leaving a pile of rubble. And then through October and into November the Sirte massacres started piling up - at least 400 loyalist dead in a mass grave now, an unknown but significant number of them executed, some after withstanding torture, eye-gouging, etc., visible in leaked photos of the mass grave internees. How many more were disposed of in other ways or unknown to us is obviously unsure.

27 comments:

Not until now, no. It's disturbing, but I don't think anyone was being killed there, just yelled at and having the walls shot all around them. Probably injured from concrete chips and ricochets. Do we know where?

It's not a surprise at all when the rebels are using medieval methods of warfare now in Sirte. Already a month ago they announced to do exactly that in an AP article:

"We want to save our fighters and not lose a single one in battles with Gadhafi's forces," said Mohammed al-Rajali, a spokesman for the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi. "In the end, we will get Sirte, even if we have to cut water and electricity and let NATO pound it with airstrikes."

"More accutely than usual, I'm aware these "people" are spoiled rotten and unaccountable, lying, evil, twisted sacks of shit. And they're totally winning, with the stupid world kissing their asses all the way through a crash course of war crimes just reflexively now put on Gaddafi's endless fucking open tab."

I couldn't have put it better myself...

In fact, here's a tiny miniature of how the whole war has been conducted by those spoiled sacks of shit as you aptly described them:

'An anti-Gaddafi commander at the scene, Ismail Al-Sosi, told Reuters: "The rebels secured the way for the International Red Cross to go but as soon as they entered the city they returned because of the (pro-Gaddafi) militias firing. We did not start the firing. The militias started the firing."

However, a Reuters team who witnessed the incident, said they saw no incoming fire from the Gaddafi loyalists inside Sirte.'

slaughterhouse5, excellent addition. I may observe my moratorium on adding to this post again, or I may not. I suppose it's become a running commentary... And thanks for the reminder of a book I still need to read.

Peet73, the video seals it. I'll need to add. This is extremely criminal what they're doing.

Lex Blough /Axis of Logic has a great article covering the Red Cross prevention false-flag incident. It's got the CNN video and one from TeleSur, which did visit at leastone hospital, showed the work they were doing with sunlight and gravity drips, and confirmed it had been bombed (although obviously not leveled).

Libya 360 also has a good piece on it with more videos and many links to other related articles.

Thank you for this update about the appalling conditions in Sirte, a tragedy brought about by the NATO bombing. So much for the initial threadbare justification of 'protecting civilians' employed by the armchair mercenaries in the United States and Australia to go to war in Libya.

Thanks for your response the other day about the manufactured 'regime rape' story of Iman Obeidi. Perhaps you could write a book about all these public relations-generated lies, because the relationship between the public relations industry and the political thinktanks is incestuous. A number of neoconservative political advisors who advocated the 2003 Iraq invasion, are now turning up as lobbyists for the governments of Georgia and Latvia. What a surprise.....

I wonder how many of these hacks will turn up as advocates of the 'new and improved' Libya. There is one firm, Orion Strategies, which has direct links with the aforementioned governments, and has advocated for the big oil and armaments manufacturing corporations.

Rupen, thanks again for a thoughtful comment. "Armchair mercenaries"is a good line. I'll look into Orion Strategies.

Some updates:[NTC spokesman Bani] meanwhile dismissed reports that some NTC members were preventing civilians in Sirte from receiving aid from outside the town, calling the reports "illogical."

Some "revolutionary fighters destroyed the locations of snipers " so as to help them leave, and some "paid themselves as the price, " Bani said.Xinhua

The Red Cross reports about 20,000 people have fled Sirte in recent weeks. Among them are women, children and the elderly.

"The first time we went to the hospital, we saw that the water reservoir had been hit by a rocket," added Anderson. "That was also an issue. So, indeed there have been situations where the hospital had received some hits due to the fighting and, of course, it is of concern - and this is why we remind that the hospital is protected under international humanitarian law. It is particularly important as fighting is continuing."

The International Committee of the Red Cross is calling for health care workers and humanitarian personnel to be allowed to continue working. For now, Anderson says no place in Sirte is immune from attack, including the hospital."Voice of America!The bolded is obviously in addition to the flowing water being turned off, the time when your reservoir will be needed. This is life-targeting genocide.

Two doctors from India and Bangladesh who escaped the hospital described the dire conditions.“The hospital is full of military men and casualties. There are more than 200 patients and less than 15 doctors. There is no proper treatment, and a real lack of food. Blood streaks the corridors and we don’t have enough water to clean it,” said the doctors, who did not wish to be named for fear of recriminations. “The death rate is very high”.Telegraph(also mentions weapons in and around the hospital, "where they know Nato will not attack," according to a rebel there.

""The rebels from Misrata say they will destroy Sirte because Misrata was destroyed," said Ali, another fleeing resident.

"NATO has brought destruction, and the revolution has brought destruction," he said.

As he spoke, bystanders began shouting at him that such talk would just spread "chaos and havoc". Ali retorted that they were not telling the truth and walked away in dismay.

Another angry resident shared Ali's view.

"What did America and NATO bring to us? Did they bring apricots?" he demanded. "No, they brought us the shelling and the strikes. They terrorised our kids.""Reuters

We have confirmation of about 20,000 people fleeing from a city of around 100,000 (I hear). It's also hosting forces that weren't there six weeks ago, though perhaps losing some early refugees. That means between 60,000 and 90,000 are still inside. The same Reuters piece has this:NTC forces say they are mounting a final push to seize Sirte after pausing to let civilians leave. They say the only people left are mercenaries, die-hard fighters and, they believe, one of Gaddafi's sons, Mu'atassem, a military commander.

The hospital's fallen into rebel hands. There were reports it washousing loyalist weaponry used against the rebels. There are photos of loyalists found hiding there (many injured patients) paraded out (a good one). Anymore, injured is untreated or a surrendered captive. Then they just cause lots of injuries... Red Cross again confirms it had been partly destroyed prior to this, evacuated some patients to rebel-held Tripoli (News 24.

Oct. 12, heaviest fighting yet, deepest into the city. TeleSur:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18OGarj-JWsGood reporting, a tad "ideological." Diego Marin:"the procedure by which [captives] are being processed is not very clear. ... Our worst suspicions were confirmed by rebel soldiers here who told us that who will be found with weapons, there is no doubt that he will be executed. This situation is worrying us."

CNN:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-lBiJSGblcWater! Everywhere, across the street, spilled! twelve executed men, claimed by rebels as their own, with a stupid "we don't know the story." Clearly they're following through on what they told Marin, perhaps killing the unarmed as well. A few more executed bodies filmed not far away.

More:Reuters via Mathaba:Obaid pulled up in his pick-up truck keen to fire the multiple rocket launcher mounted on the back at Gaddafi loyalists holding out in the Libyan city of Sirte, but just as he was about to shoot, he stopped to ask which way to aim.His comrades standing nearby loudly conferred with one another then pointed him to what they agreed was the right direction and Obaid fired four Grad missiles at the city.They all cheered him and shouted “Allahu Akbar.” Smoke rose above the already wrecked city, but no one could say if the Grad rockets hit the target, or even what the target was.These are, to some extent, the same people giving NATO its targeting info. When civilians and their life support systems are hit and pressured to heed the demand to surrender, is that bad targeting or good?

Were NATO strikes on Gaddafi’s home town justified?Defence secretary, Liam Fox, sounded a little scripted in Misrata at the weekend when I asked him whether NATO’s airstrikes in Muammar Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte were staying within its remit to protect civilians in Libya. [...]Sirte and Bani Walid were not Tripoli. They resisted — and resisted ferociously. Taken aback, fighters loyal to the NTC began drawn-out sieges of both towns, battering them with rockets, mortars and tanks as Gaddafi loyalists hit them with intense sniper and rocket fire.[...]For NATO’s detractors, it’s hard to see how launching airstrikes on a city already under heavy shelling from the NTC and with no power and little food amounted to protecting the people who lived in it.

Liam Fox was sure where the blame for the suffering lay.

“There wouldn’t be any NATO strikes if it had not been for the fact that Gaddafi was threatening his own population and threatening a civilian, humanitarian catastrophe in Benghazi,” he told me, adding that the people of Sirte may need to be given “some information” on why the siege played out as it did.

If they only understood and believed the semantics-based lie of the imminent "Benghazi bloodbath," they'd understand why the very real Sirte bloodbath is such a dire necessity that it must be allowed. Because if it weren't absolutely necessary, how could such an awful thing be allowed in the 21st century?

(Mr. Fox then resigned, for unrelated reasons)

The Telegraph:Fighters loyal to the interim government have denied the onslaught on Sirte is revenge for earlier crackdowns in other cities by the former regime.

There was unease at the scale of the devastation among those from the city who had joined the rebels though.

"We are paying the price of having been in Gaddafi's favour," said one rebel fighter from the city who declined to be named.

"If we don't stop shelling like this, in three days Sirte will just be a flattened into the desert." Another added tearfully: "If we had known what they would do to our houses, maybe we would have stayed with Gaddafi."

Wow. People in tears at what they've become party to. People in Liberated Libya almost wishing to have stayed loyal and inside the houses being torn to shreds. NATO liberation, a fate arguably worse than arbitrary violent death.

This YouTube clip from Bani Walid, uploaded 9/11,from Deutsche Welle TV, shows a very European looking military type at 0.29. As DW reported on Saturday 10 September:

"The rebels had launched their assault on Bani Walid early on Saturday morning and met stiff resistance from Gadhafi loyalists. Rebel Commanders subsequently halted the assault and pulled back to the outskirts of the town.

Rebel negotiator Abdullah Kenshil told the news agency AFP that the assault was probably halted in anticipation of NATO airstrikes. The Reuters news agency, meanwhile, has reported several airstrikes in the town.

"We launched this morning the widespread assault we had spoken about in order to enter and capture Bani Walid after receiving reinforcements from other areas," Kenshil said"....probably halted in anticipation of NATO airstrikes.......obviously this would require some kind of ground co-ordination.

There is proof of coordination between NATO and ground forces. Not only in several articles, one of which talks about a female "painter" painting the targets inside tripoli, but there is even an article where an american journalist calls in an airstrike.

It is interesting how this rebel video of the lynching of Muammar Gaddafi on October 20th just happens to show one lone "nigger" on a pickup truck. On his way to another lynching?

The press are not free to record what "cargo" rebels carry around in their cars. Most likely the rebels have become more sensitive to publishing and censoring their own videos. This extraordinary event however lets us peek into the every day reality of NTC ruled Libya.

By the way, Cluster bombs also popped up in the Nefusa Mountain Media Group frontline reports:Thursday 26 May, 19:00Qala: intermittent shelling using Grad rockets and cluster bombs launched by Gaddafi forces located in the Suk district, falling on the city of Ifran and Qala . This went on up until one hour from now.Thursday 26 May, 12:45

Qala: Gaddafi forces have been using missiles, anti aircraft artillery and cluster bombs. The latter is internationally prohibited. The attacks stopped at approximately 12 mid day.Saturday 4 June: 12:20

Qala: Shelling by Gaddafi forces using anti aircraft artillery today, and using rocket launchers and cluster bombs throughout the night from Saffeet.

That's about it.

But this site is not to be trusted, e.g.Saturday 11 June, 10:12

Ghdames: Gadaffi forces shell the historic city of Ghdames for the first time since the beginning of the revolution. The people of Ghdames are pleading with UNISCO and international organisations to protect this historic city after reports which state that some Gadaffi supporters are planning to wipe out some of the historic ruins in the city. It has been said the UNISCO have announced that the city of Ghdames is protected as it is the 3 most historic city in the world.Saturday 11 June, 18:05Ghdames: We mentioned in our report earlier today that there has been shelling by Gadaffi forces today on the historic city of Ghdames. However, after managing to speak to people over there, we were informed that this was not the case. We would therefore like to formally apologise for this mistake. Easy mistake to make. The only town for miles and miles.

Here is an interesting video just uploaded to YouTube by "MutasimGaddafi." If I understand correctly, it is from the Dollar neighborhood in Sirte from October. I think I can recognize the park at the sourth end of Dubai Street. I have not yet tried to locate the building on Google maps. As far as I know, this is the only video of the Sirte battles recorded from the loyalist side. Nothing dramatic here, but it shows a view from the other side.

- The Tripoli Massacres {masterlist} - probably over 1,200 victims revealed so far. Several grisly crime scenes across loyalist Tripoli, all tallied to my ability at the main link, many expanded in posts linked there.

- Sub-post: Abu Salim Trauma "Hospital"Of special importance among these is this bloody and "mysterious" episode. At least 75 victims (perhaps 200 or more).

- Sub-post: The Khamis Brigade Shed Massacre (the one with 53 charred skeletons). Slower to come into focus, this one is shaping up as a sickening complex of barbarity and deceit. 106 victims now official, 51 survivors, perhaps about 150 or more really dead.

- The Sirte Massacres {masterlist} - At least 300 acknowledged so far, and a mass grave with well over 400... Numerous brazen mass-executions, torture, burning, mutilation, occurring in areas the rebels controlled.